January 27, 2017

Laura Hewitt was a great philanthropist and ardent advocate of the Charleston arts and food industries and, in many ways, these industries came of age in the past decade, in no small part due to Laura’s leadership.

Laura served on Charleston Stage’s Board from 1995-2001 taking on many leadership roles including Board President and Vice President. She was instrumental in establishing the Company’s Annual Gala and under her leadership the company established its Professional Resident Acting Program. Today, more than 83 young professionals have been a part of this program, lighting up the Dock Street Stage and enriching arts education for more than 150,000 young people throughout our community.

This year’s recipient of The Laura Hewitt Distinguished Service Award was awarded to Dave Marley, Charleston Stage’s Board of Trustees Treasurer. Dave is a Senior Vice President and Senior Private Banker for the Wells Fargo Private Bank. Dave earned his Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in Finance and Management from The University of South Carolina. He is also a graduate of the Graduate School of Bank Management at The University of Virginia through the Consumer Bankers Association and the Certified Financial Planner program at the College of Charleston.

Dave resides in Mount Pleasant with his wife Tracy. They have a son who is a graduate of The University of South Carolina and also lives in Mount Pleasant, and a daughter who is a Senior at The University of South Carolina.

Guest Actor Jordan Barrow, who recently starred as Seaweed in our season opener Hairspray, is making his Broadway debut! Jordan will star alongside Tony Award-winner Victoria Clark, Tony Award-nominee Montego Glover and Tony Award-winner Judy Kaye in Garth Dravinski’s new musical Sousatzka. Preview performances will begin in late February of 2017 at Toronto’s historic Elgin Theatre.

Based on the original novel Madame Sousatzka by Bernice Rubens, Sousatzka, set in London, England in 1982, tells the story of a young musical prodigy torn between two powerful women from vastly different worlds: his mother, a political refugee and his piano teacher, a brilliant eccentric with a shattered past. These two proud, iconoclastic women must ultimately cross cultural and racial divides to find common ground or else put the boy’s destiny in jeopardy.

Charleston Stage Founder and Producing Artistic Director Julian Wiles’s original play The Seat of Justice, which played to sold-out houses last February, will be published later this year by Dramatic Publishing. The Seat of Justice and Wiles’s other eight original plays are now available to other theatres around the country for production. These include: Nevermore, Blitzen, a boy and his piano, Fruitcakes, Helium, Inga Binga and Night of the Pteradactyls.

“I’m especially excited to learn that this amazing and often forgotten story from South Carolina and American history,” say Wiles, “will now be told at other theatres around the country. This is a testament not only to my play but to the courageous citizens of Clarendon County that set in motion the wheels of justice that would lead to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court Decision.”

Five Time Tony Award-Winning Runaway Broadway Hit “Peter and the Starcatcher” Opens February 17th at the Historic Dock Street Theatre

“It’s pure theatrical fireworks,” says Charleston Stage Producing Director Julian Wiles who, as director, is at the helm of the five time Tony Award-winning, comic adventure. “Peter and the Starcatcher is one of the most imaginative shows to light up the Great White Way in many years-taking Broadway by storm and lighting up theatres all across the country ever since. This is one of the cleverest and surprising scripts I’ve ever come across. I saw the original production in New York and couldn’t wait to bring it here to the Dock Street Theatre for its Lowcountry Premiere.”

With the swashbuckling wit of Pirates of the Caribbean and the zaniness of Monty Python, Peter and the Starcatcher tells the story of an orphan boy who sets sail on the adventure that will lead him to Neverland, introduce him to a pirate that will become Captain Hook and where he discovers the magic that will let him fly.

“Actually, its so imaginative”, says Wiles, “that it’s almost beyond description”. With its inventive staging (think of our recent production of The 39 Steps) Peter and the Starcatcher is the perfect show for everyone who enjoys a sidesplitting and off-the-wall comedy – whether you’re looking for a family friendly show, the perfect outing for a date night or just a thoroughly delightful night at the theatre. Peter and the Starcatcher is for everyone.

Adapted from the bestselling adventure novel by humorist Dave Barry and his friend Ridley Pearson, Peter and the Starcatcher features two sailing ships, a crew of motley pirates, a flying cat, a desert island, mesmerizing mermaids and two treasure chests including one filled with glowing magical stuff called “starstuff”.

Peter and the Starcatcher features an all-star professional cast including Charleston Stage Acting Company Member Brian Porter as Black Stache (aka Captain Hook). You may remember Porter from performances such as Roger De Bris in The Producers, Tony Whitcomb in Shear Madness and as the Emcee in Cabaret. Charleston Stage Acting Company Member John Black plays Peter and Charleston Stage Resident Professional Acting Company member Madeline Glenn Thomas plays Molly, his love interest. The remaining cast of 11 features additional members of Charleston Stage’s Resident Professional Acting Company and some of Charleston’s most noted performers, playing dozens of roles ranging from orphans, to sailors, to pirates, a tribe of Sea Island natives called the Mollusks, a giant crocodile Named Big Grin, a school of bearded Mermaids and more. This motley crew includes: Sean Michael Kelly (Prentiss), Pen Chance (Ted), Atam Woodruff (Smee), David Loar (Lord Leonard Aster), Matthew Willingham (Mrs. Brumbake/Teacher), William Rutkowski (Captain Robert Falcon Scott), Ryan Pixler (Grempkin/Fighting Prawn), Timothy Shaw (Bill Slank/Hawking Clam), Derek T. Pickens (Alf), Alex Garcia (Sanchez/Mack) and Luke Shaw (Ensemble).

About the Authors

Rick Elice, Tony Award-winning playwright, is currently one of the theatre world’s bright stars as the playwright for Peter and the Starcatcher (2004) and the book writer for the musicals Jersey Boys and The Addams Family. He says he started attending the theatre when he was just three years old when his mother took him to see My Fair Lady, and he became hooked on the magic of theatre.

Dave Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning, nationally syndicated columnist and author of more than two dozen books, most recently I’ll Mature When I’m Dead. Along with Ridley Pearson, he is the co-author of a whole series of Starcatcher young adult novels: Peter and the Starcatcher, Peter and the Shadow Thieves, Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, Peter and the Sword of Mercy and Science Fair. Their newest collaboration is The Bridge to Never Land.

Ridley Pearson, co-author of Peter and the Starcatcher with Dave Barry, is the award-winning author of the Kingdom Keepers series. He is the recipient of the Raymond Chandler/Fulbright Fellowship in Detective Fiction at Oxford University. Ridley has also written more than twenty-five best-selling crime novels.